Derrick Rose Three-Point Shooting Breakdown

While it’s not 100% official, Derrick Rose has agreed to come back to the Minnesota Timberwolves next season. Rose will return on a one-year deal worth about $2.4 million, the league minimum for Rose. D-Rose appeared in just nine regular season games for the Wolves last season after signing with the team following a buyout from Utah. In his nine regular season games, Rose posted just 5.8 points per game. He showed flashes of the old MVP, but Rose was certainly rusty after a buyout from the Jazz. Then, the playoffs hit. Rose was phenomenal in the postseason for the Timberwolves, possibly being their best player in the series. Let’s take a look at why Rose was so successful in the playoffs in this “Derrick Rose Three-Point Shooting Breakdown.”

Playoff Shooting

Derrick Rose finished the 2018 NBA Playoffs with quite the numbers. Rose averaged 14.2 points per game while playing 23.8 minutes per game. Over the five-game series against Houston, Rose shot 50.9% from the field and 70% from three. While the 70% from three is blown out of proportion because he was 7 of 10, there is material in the shot to look at.

Of Rose’s 10 three-point attempts in the playoffs, eight of them came from the corner. Of the eight attempts from the corner, Rose connected on six of those shots. While it was an incredibly small sample size, I went back and looked at Rose’s shooting from the corner throughout his career. It turns out that Rose is a 31.8% shooter from three-point range when his shots come from the corner. That, by no means is a great number. But, when we look at his 29.6% overall number from three, it doesn’t look too bad. There could be potential for Rose to consistently hit corner threes. Furthermore, look at the corner threes that Rose did connect on in the postseason against Houston.

Both of these corner threes portray the same thing. Rose is set in the corner and ready to shoot. Similar to Andrew Wiggins, that’s when Rose gets the best results on his threes. On the other hand, when Rose dances around with the ball, his shooting percentage on long-range shots goes down.

Recap

I’m not saying Rose is going to be a sharpshooter. It’s not going to happen. But, if Rose could shoot a manageable 34% from three next season, it would be a welcome surprise. Rose will play a lot off the ball next season with Tyus Jones still in the fold. He will certainly get those open looks from the corner where he is set and ready to shoot. Now, it’s just a matter of Rose being confident in taking the shot and knocking it down.

If Rose can manage to stay healthy during the 2018/19 NBA season, he will be an impactful player for Minnesota. The three-point shooting from the corner off the bench would be able to open up many other scoring avenues for himself. All of a sudden, people would be closing out harder on Rose to the corner allowing him to get easy looks at the rim. Again, Rose won’t be a sniper from three, but average shooting from at least the corner will help himself and the Wolves immensely.